Dr. Mary Beth Walker was appointed Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs effective July 1, 2019 by President Dianne F. Harrison.
Dr. Walker brings a wealth of experience implementing high-impact practices and helping to eliminate achievement gaps. Dr. Walker has the understanding and skill set to help advance CSUN’s student success initiatives and to collaborate with faculty, academic staff and campus leadership to prepare students to face the challenges of today and tomorrow. She is a champion of inclusive excellence, research and innovation.
Until her appointment, Dr. Walker had been serving since January 2019 as Interim President of Georgia Gwinnett College, which is part of the Georgia State System. Before her appointment as interim president, since 2017 she served as Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Innovations at Georgia State University, where she has served in successive leadership and academic roles, including Dean of the School of Policy Studies and Chair of the Department of Economics. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Rice University. As an economist, her research interests center on quantitative evaluation of policy, including tax policy and some labor market issues. In recent years, she has focused her research efforts on education economics.
As Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Walker is responsible for directing nearly 3,000 faculty and staff members in the Division of Academic Affairs, the largest unit within the university, encompassing eight academic colleges; the college of extended learning; university library; academic support units; and six central academic affairs administrative offices.
As Provost, Dr. Walker also serves as a member of the CSU Academic Council, the President's Cabinet at CSUN, the CSUN Foundation's Board of Directors. She also chairs the Provost's Council, the Academic Affairs Council, the Teacher Education Council, and the University Planning & Budget Group (UPBG).